Preparing for cycle touring.. In France!

Im not sure if I have mentioned it before, but this summer DrummerPie and I are planning to do some cycle touring in the south of France.

We are very lucky to have friends with a fabulous house near Agen, so the plan is to end up there after 8 days of cycling and camping. We will meet a bunch of friends there for a relaxing cheese, wine and sunbathing marathon.

After extensive research/discussions/googling we decided that the best way to get to the south of France and back, was via Eurostar and train. (Getting bikes on these services is a total nightmare BTW- but maybe another post on this in the future!)

We are going to start our adventure in La Rochelle, cycle down the coast, skip north of Bordeaux, and finally cycle east along towards Agen. Over the last few months we have been collecting equiptment, and we now have a full cycle camping kit ready to go! 

Today we had the pleasure of pootling around London picking up some final bits, including some essential maps for the journey. I also decided after our last long ride that I would most certainly need a new saddle for my blue bike, and after trying my pal Lucy's Tokyo Bike I decided to get a Tokyo saddle. It's a beautiful brown saddle and has loads of padding, but I like that it isn't too wide, I hope it will be super comfortable! I will be sure to review it afterwards. 

I also picked up 'The man who cycled the Americas' by Mark Beaumont. A few years ago I read his book 'The man who cycled the World', and I can honestly say it was one of the best adventure stories I have ever read. I am forever boring my cycling friends with anecdotes about the book!  

I am super excited to read this new book, especially as I loved watching the BBC coverage of his journey a few years ago. I am hoping that this will give me some serious motivation when we are eating up the miles in France this summer. 

I am planning to keep a diary of our little adventure, and maybe even do a bit of vlogging too, but before that I will be trying to keep you updated with all of our preparations!